A Tale of the Bottomless Blue
by mamalehnumbers
Summary: What would Disney's "The Little Mermaid" look like if the characters were replaced with those who we all know and love from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries? I attempt to figure that out.
1. Fathoms Below

—

i'll tell you **a tale of the bottomless blue**

and it's hey to the starboard, heave ho

look out, lad, a mermaid be waiting for you

in mysterious **fathoms below**

—

"You'll never feel any better if you stay down like that. You should really stand and enjoy the breeze!"

Charlotte narrowed her eyes for a moment and wiped the sweat off her brow. "You know, I wouldn't be feeling sick if someone hadn't insisted on dragging me out into these god-forsaken waters."

Lizzie couldn't help but laugh at Charlotte's frustration. A quarter of a century living beside the ocean, and her seasickness had never faded. It was one of the great mysteries of life that had always stumped Lizzie, but she'd never let her best friend's dislike interfere with her own love for the water. And what better day could there be to be out on the ocean than this one?

"Would you please at least stand and look at the horizon, Char?" she called out, keeping her eyes closed as she tried to enjoy the salty smell in the air. "It'll help with your stomach."

Charlotte did as she was told and gripped the side of the boat tightly. "Remind me why you thought bringing me out here would be a good idea, Lizzie?"

"Because look at how beautiful it is today, Char!" Lizzie practically skipped to where Charlotte stood shaking. "Every time you've gotten sick before, the boat was rocking from the waves. But today, there's only the fresh air and blue skies as far as the eye can see!"

"My lame older sister is actually right, for once." Lydia popped up between the girls, spreading her arms out and over their shoulders. She beamed at the blue water that spread before them and bounced on the balls of her feet. "Just look at that. Catherine must be in a good mood today."

"Catherine?" Charlotte asked.

Lydia ignored her and continued. "Looks like the perfect afternoon for a swim!" She perched her foot on the wall and started heaving herself upwards off of their shoulders, but Lizzie quickly grabbed her arm and pulled backwards.

"Not today, Lydia. You saw Mom's face the last time you came home soaking wet! You were sick for weeks!"

Lydia just rolled her eyes and groaned. "It's just a swim, and we're heading home soon anyways. Jeez, do you have to be such a party pooper all the time?"

"When it means keeping you out of trouble, yes, I do."

"Okay, you two. Shake it off and answer my question before your fighting makes me lose my lunch. Who's Catherine?"

Lizzie only shook her head and turned back toward the water. "She's supposed to be the queen of the merpeople. Dad always read us stories about them when we were kids, but Lydia has chosen to believe in childish fairytales way longer than anyone ever should."

"They're not fairytales, weirdo," Lydia insisted, crossing her arms against her chest. "I'm telling you — If you swim down far enough, you'll find Catherine's kingdom. They're down there, and they just don't want us to know about them!"

"Lydia, stop being ridiculous for once in your life."

With that, Lydia stormed back below deck and left the two girls to stare quietly at the ocean where there were absolutely, positively no mermaids.

They simply didn't exist. Everyone knew that.


	2. The Girl Who Has Everything

_—_

_look at this stuff - isn't it neat?_

_wouldn't you think my collection's complete?_

_wouldn't you think I'm the girl_

_**the girl who has everything**__?_

—

Gigi knew she wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the surface. There were mean birds and ships with heavy wood that could knock her unconscious and humans that would not hesitate to capture her should they see her, and they all resided on the surface. So, of course, her brother had reminded her on a daily basis since she had first swam up to breathe in her first gulp of air that she was never go to the surface unsupervised … so really, ever.

But she really wanted to go to the surface.

So, when her aunt and brother were busy with royal duties that she was not old enough to take part in, she would swim to the surface. Just to take a peek. She didn't do it often, and she had never been caught. Gigi Darcy was far too smart to let herself get caught. So of course she kept doing it.

On this particular morning, Gigi felt especially justified in her secret surface visit, because she wasn't going to be alone. Ever since Fitz had discovered her floating around up top by herself, he'd made sure to keep an eye out for her and even schedule meet-ups. If she was with someone that her brother consistently spent time with, surely it would be alright for her to be above water without another merperson present.

She floated up to the top of the water and peeked her head slowly above, allowing her lungs to fill up with the rare taste of morning air. Just as he'd said, Fitz was perched on a rock nearby. This was closer than she'd ever been to the shoreline, but Fitz needed somewhere to land instead of just flying in circles the entire time. He'd tried that once and gotten so dizzy, he could barely catch a fish for three days.

"Morning, Fitz!" she called, waving her hand.

Fitz had been facing the beach, so a mermaid popping up behind him had caused him to stumble and practically fall right into the water. Flapping his wings out, he caught his balance and shook his head before turning and laughing. "Gigi D, you've got to warn a bird before you shock him like that!"

She giggled and covered her mouth. "Sorry."

"Nah, don't worry about it. So what're you up to Miss Break-the-Rules?"

Gigi frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, please," Fitz dragged out. "You and I both know that you've been making me keep your little surface excursions a secret from your brother for weeks. You can't keep doing this, you know. I'm going to have to tell the dude at some point, and the longer you keep this hidden, the harder he's gonna come down on you."

"Or …" she answered, tapping her finger on her chin. "There's always not telling him. Which as you already know, I'm in favor of."

"But I'm not!"

"Fitz!"

"You know what your brother's like when he's upset! I dropped a fish on his head once when he was up here, and man, Gigi D. If looks could kill, I'd have been belly up in the water then and there."

Gigi rolled her eyes and smirked. "You're a bird, Fitz. Not a fish."

"I would've fallen into the water and floated on my back. Work with me, girl!"

Gigi just laughed and leaned backwards to float, kicking her fin above the water and relaxing. It had been a while since she'd felt the sun on her skin, and ever since she'd first experienced its warm rays, she'd never been able to get enough of them. "You know, sometimes I wish I could stay up here forever."

"What, on the surface? Like a bird?"

"Yeah, like a bird. Or maybe a human. I don't know … it's silly."

Fitz didn't speak for a beat longer than Gigi expected. She opened one eye to peer over at him, but all she could see was him staring at the ground quietly. There was hardly a quiet moment with Fitz, so naturally she was concerned. "What's the matter?"

"Just don't let your brother hear you talking about wanting to be human, okay?" he said finally.

"Yeah, I know."

"Good. Now, how did your thing go today?"

Gigi frowned. "What thing?"

"You know. The big thing with your aunt and Darcy and all the big snobby merpeeps down below?"

Oh, right. The coronation ceremony.

That was today.

In fact, it was right now.

Gigi gasped and splashed upwards in surprise, accidentally getting more water on Fitz. "I'M LATE!" She quickly yelled goodbye over her shoulder and started swimming down below as fast as she could. Over and over her brother had reminded her the past week "Georgiana, do not forget about the ceremony! You must be there, Gigi. All the big important merpeople will be there, Gigi.

"Do. Not. Forget."

And she forgot.

Great.

—

"Don't be so hard on her, Darcy. You know your aunt's probably chewing her out enough as it is."

Darcy pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. His shoulders were tense, and his mind kept drifting back to the humiliation that was this morning's ceremony.

The entire point of the ceremony was to acknowledge Gigi's acceptance into the royal court. She was of age in the mercommunity, which meant it was time for her to start taking her responsibilities as princess of the Pember Sea seriously. She was to show up on time, and Catherine would present her to the court officials and their citizens.

Naturally, she did not show up on time, however. They began the ceremony as planned, Darcy assuming that his sister would have already met with Caroline and was in place. He stood off to the side, next to the seashell curtain where he would meet Gigi and bring her forward to Catherine. Imagine everyone's shock and surprise when they lifted the curtain to find … no one.

"You could have informed me ahead of time that you had not seen her," Darcy said firmly, scowling at Caroline.

She had been resting against the wall with her arms crossed ever since Darcy had started pacing the room furiously. Running her fingers through her hair, she replied calmly, "I already told you. I was looking for you, but you were already in place onstage. If I had come out to warn you, the officials would have noticed and known something was wrong anyways."

"It would have been better than me standing there alone like a fool!"

"Come on, man," Bing said, placing a hand on Darcy's shoulder. "Yelling at Caroline's not going to change anything. It happened. So what? Gigi's still in the royal court now, and so she overslept or something. It's not the end of the world."

Darcy knew that Bing was right, but all the same, the two of them hd responsibilities to uphold, and shirking those responsibilities from the get go was not a great way to introduce yourself to the community. Gigi had it easy for her in this respect — the people already adored her. How could they not? She excelled in all her classes, and she was incredibly kind to everyone she met. All the same, she was not a child anymore, and she would have to start showing people that she was capable of holding the title of princess.

Before Darcy could respond, however, the door to the throne room slammed open.

Catherine knew how to dominate a room with her presence, even if she never spoke a word. She held her head up high, her eyes squinted as though they were always suspicious of every being in the room, and she swam slowly, forcing everyone to adjust their speed to match hers. Every moment was stern and sharp, and the only gentleness was toward the glob of a jellyfish that she kept in her hand and tucked close to her torso at all times. "Anniekins" never left her side.

She made eye contact with Darcy for just a moment before slowly making her way across the room and out to the grand hallway. Just before she left, she shouted without moving her head: "COLLINS!"

At the sound, a small little crab started scurrying across the floor. "Coming, Ms. DeBourgh! Coming right away!" He dashed across the room and nodded his head toward Darcy on his way out. "Good afternoon, Mr. Darcy! My apologies for leaving in such a rush!"

"Do not worry, Collins," Darcy answered monotonously. It was better the crab was leaving. He'd never be able to get a word in with Gigi if he stayed.

Once Collins and Catherine had left, Darcy expected Gigi to follow behind, but no one left the throne room. Confused, he swam over and looked inside to see her sitting in his throne at the front of the room, her head resting in her hands and back heaving. He sighed and swam forward. "Gigi -"

Her head snapped up, and her eyes - now red and puffy, he noted - glared up at him. "What, I suppose you're here to yell at me too?"

"I'm not going to yell at you," he said quietly. "I know Aunt Catherine probably said enough already."

Gigi threw her head back and laughed joylessly. "GEORGIANAAA," she yelled obnoxiously. "How DARE you embarrass your brother and I like this? The eyes of the whole kingdom are on YOU and THIS is what you show them? You're nothing but a CHILD!"

Darcy sighed. "Aunt Catherine is harsh. You and I have known that since we were children, but she is not altogether wrong."

"Excuse me, but I am not a child!"

"No, you're not," he conceded. "But you've got to start acting your age. Now, I understand oversleeping or forgetting the time can happen to anyone, but -"

"I didn't oversleep! I'm not an idiot, William!" she interrupted. As soon as the words left her lips, her eyes widened, and she smacked her hand over her mouth, her cheeks turning a bright red.

Darcy raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then would you mind telling me where you were?"

Gigi shook her head and began swimming out the door, her hand still covering her mouth.

"Gigi!"

She swam faster than he expected, out into the hallway and quite possibly leaving the castle. He scowled and started to swim after her, not noticing when Bing and Caroline started to follow.

"Darcy, wait up already!" Bing called out, but Darcy was more interested in catching up with his sister who obviously had something to hide from him. Just where had she been this morning, anyways? All she'd done was barge into the ceremony hall an hour late, and by that time the only people left in the room were Catherine, a few officials, and himself. She'd started to stutter out excuses, but Catherine silenced her with a look and began drifting toward the throne room without a word.

When he made it outside, he spotted Gigi starting to swim in the direction of the village, probably hoping to hide amongst the citizens where Darcy would want to avoid making a sea.

"Georgiana Darcy!" he finally yelled out.

She froze stiffly, allowing him time to catch up to her. He opened his mouth to speak, but she sharply turned around and poked a finger into his chest. "You know I hate it when you call me that, William!" she argued.

"You know I hate it when you ignore me and swim away as though you've something to hide."

Her cheeks blushed pink once more, but her scowl did not drop from her face. "That's besides the point!"

He huffed. "That's exactly the point! What are you hiding? Where were you this morning?"

The siblings glared at one another for a while in silence. Gigi noticed when Caroline and Bing swam up, but they kept their distance. She knew that William would not leave this alone, unlike Aunt Catherine. (Catherine did not care for excuses. Where Gigi had spent her time "lollygagging" was none of her concern.) "Look, does it really matter where I was?" she asked. "I mean, I'm here now, right?"

"Ah, yes. An hour after you were supposed to be here, and no one knew where you were beforehand. Even if you weren't late, leaving the castle without telling anyone where you're going is dangerous, Gigi, and you know it!"

"I can take care of myself, you know! And besides, I wasn't alone — Fitz was with me!"

She smacked her hand back to her mouth and closed her eyes. Darcy moved back, her words hitting him in the face. "Fitz?" he asked quietly. "And would you mind explaining to me how Fitz — a _seagull_ — would have been able to know where you were?"

Gigi remained silent.

"Well … it means you were at the surface, right?" Bing offered with a small smile. "No big deal, really. Especially if Fitz was with her."

"No big deal, Bing?" Caroline scoffed. She shook her head then swam forward next to Darcy. "Gigi, you know I love you, but you're not supposed to be at the surface. The humans could have seen you!"

"And so what if they did?" Gigi asked quietly. "Would that really be such a bad thing?"

"Did they?" Darcy asked suddenly.

"No, no they didn't."

"But they could have. Because you were deliberately disobeying our family's rules and going to the surface. I see."

"It's not like that!"

"Oh? Then please, enlighten me."

"I just like it up there, okay?" Gigi flung her arms out and began swimming in a circle around them. "I like the sun on my skin and the feeling of air in my lungs!" She let herself sink down into the sand and stroked her hands through it. "I like the wind in my hair and the smell of the water. You know that water has a smell?"

"I know that it has a taste," Darcy answered, his brow still furrowed in frustration.

Gigi groaned. "That's not the same, William. It's different when it's mixed with the air. I can't explain it … and it's not like anyone saw me. I just want to look! Everything's so different up there."

"Exactly," Caroline answered, sitting down beside Gigi. "Everything's so much worse above water, Gigi. That sun on your skin? It's not a good thing. I'm surprised you're not red already, but it can burn you quite easily, and your skin will never recover. Do you really want that?"

Gigi sighed and looked down at her hands. "No, I don't. But I didn't burn, so obviously it must be okay."

"You must not have been out there very long. But rest assured, there's awful things on the shore. You just can't see them because you're only seeing the outskirts of it. The seaweed's always greener, that sort of thing."

"I hear what you, but the thing is, how can you really _know_ if you've never been up there?" Gig peered up at William and saw that his frown was still etched on his face. She sighed sadly and swam up to him, placing her hands on his tense shoulders. "I know that you're nervous about me going up to the surface, and I know why. But just because something happened to Mom and Dad, that doesn't mean that something will happen to me. And besides, you go up to the surface to talk to Fitz all the time!"

"That's … different."

She laughed quietly. "It's not, and you know it. You met Fitz at the surface when you went with Mom and Dad, and just because they got hurt up there, that doesn't make the surface unsafe for you, and it doesn't make it unsafe for me. It's not like I"m trying to leave you or my responsibilities, I promise. It's just that we know so little about the surface world … is it so crazy for me to be even a little bit curious?"

Darcy looked as though he wanted to answer, but before he could, a dark shadow spread out over his and Gigi's bodies. His eyes darted to the ocean top, and they saw what looked like a pitch black cloud. "Strange," he muttered.

Gigi bolted upwards. "Gigi, get back here!" he demanded.

She looked down and pointed upwards. "Oh, come on, big brother. You're not the least bit curious? I have to go look. If you want to come, you can too."

Darcy met Bing and Caroline's eyes, nodded, and took off, knowing they'd be right on his tail.


	3. Why Does It Burn?

_—_

_what's a fire, and __**why does it**_

_- what's the word? -_

_**burn?**_

—

Darcy didn't like the look of the shadow that his sister was swimming so willingly toward. The last time he'd seen such a shape … well, it had been the worst day of his life. So to see his sister swim so hurriedly toward it made him swim faster than he had in a long time. Knowing he had Bing and Caroline following close behind was a comfort, but all the same, if he could grab Gigi and swim back home immediately, he would.

He broke through to the surface and wiped water away from his eyes. Quickly, he scanned the area, checking to make sure they hadn't been spotted. He noted that the skies did not look as blue as they usually did, but rather there were several dark clouds starting to cover the area. A storm must be coming soon, he thought. Remembering why they'd come up to the surface in the first place, he whipped around back to his sister. "Gigi, don't ever do that again, do you understand?"

"Do what?" she asked, though it was clear she wasn't listening. Her eyes were glued to the giant boat before them, which had obviously been the object casting the shadow.

Darcy scowled at the boat. For all he knew, those were fishermen, throwing their nets and their lines into the water to drag his citizens away from their homes and into the hell that was the shore. He knew what happened to fish in a human's home, and he expected Gigi to stay far, far away from it.

Which, of course, meant that she started swimming toward it as fast as possible.

"Gigi!" he shouted, taking off after her. They had to be very careful now that there were humans around, and swimming directly at them was not exactly "cautious."

"William, I just want to look!" she called over her shoulder, starting to duck her body beneath the surface. Slowly, she swam into the the boat's shadow and pressed herself against the wood. "I'm perfectly safe here, I swear."

"Safe" was a bit strong of a word in Darcy's opinion, but he did agree that none of the humans could easily see them from where they hid. If Gigi wanted to hear the humans and observe them from a "safe" distance … well, it was obvious that he was powerless to stop her at this point. At least he could stay and make sure she didn't get into any further trouble.

"You can't seriously be okay with this, Darcy," Caroline whispered, swimming up behind him.

He sighed and shook his head subtly enough that Gigi would not notice. "She's of age. I can't force her to do anything except keep her from acting rash … Where did Bing go?"

The three looked around, and Darcy was beginning to worry when he heard Gigi's excited squeal. He frowned, turning to hush her, but she had already moved. It appeared that Gigi was not the only one interested in the humans.

Bing had found a ledge just beneath an opening near the floor of the deck, and he had pulled himself upwards to rest on it so that he could watch the activities up top. He was directly in front of the action, and from the smile on his face, he seemed to be enjoying himself. This gave Gigi the idea to join him, and before Darcy could do anything to stop it, his best friend and his little sister were sitting a mere three feet away from the humans.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed harshly, swimming up beneath the ledge. "Get down from there immediately!"

"Darcy, you have to come see this," Bing whispered back. His eyes didn't waver as he laughed to himself. "It's beautiful."

Beautiful? Bing had always been a bit of a romantic, but he'd never described anything human as 'beautiful' before. "What are you talking about?"

"You just have to come and see."

Darcy looked to Caroline. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and placed her hands on her hips. Noticing his questioning gaze, she raised and eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Darcy, you know better than that."

Yes, he did know better than that. But Gigi and Bing were both so entranced … he needed to see what was happening. If there was some sort of magic hypnotizing the people he loved, he needed to get them away from there as soon as possible.

Ignoring Caroline's scolding whispers, he lifted his arms up, grabbing hold of the ledge next to Bing to pull himself upwards until he could rest as well. The wood was rough and awkward to sit on, especially since the air had begun to fill with a mist from the skies, leaving the ledge rather slippery. Regardless,, he turned, faced the opening, and held on tight. "Now show me what it is that you find so fascinating?"

Gigi was simply giggling to herself, apparently entranced by the entire scene before them. There was music, the likes of which Darcy had heard only a few times previously during the celebrations that took place in Pember Sea's city on occasion. He scowled instinctively when he first glanced at a human foot, then was taken aback at the way the foot didn't seem to sit still. Taking in the full human, he saw a young red headed girl who was moving her …

What were they called?

Legs?

That was it. Legs.

She was moving her legs back and forth, sometimes lifting them off the ground entirely as though she were trying to float in the air, but of course she always fell back to the ground merely a moment later. Along with her legs, her arms flailed about in a scattered movement that confused Darcy, and he wasn't sure what exactly she thought she was doing. For a second, he considered the fact that she might be using her movement to hypnotize and trap his friend and sister, but Gigi and Bing did not seem to be watching the girl.

He attempted to follow Gigi's gaze, but it never seemed to settle on one specific area. Her eyes darted back and forth, from the middle of the area with the moving girl, to the sides of the boat where there were tables covered in what Darcy could only guess was what the humans considered food. He had to admit, there was a lot to take in.

Bing however, had his eyes trained on one exact spot, which Darcy could find easily enough. There was another human standing directly across the boat from where they sat. They were low enough that were she to look over in their direction, she probably wouldn't notice the eyes lurking in the shadows, but Darcy moved lower just in case.

From his position, he could make out that like the moving girl, she also had flaming red hair. Were they related? She smiled and laughed, watching the moving girl and apparently not finding her movements disturbing or strange in the slightest. She herself did not move though. Instead, she stood off to the side, laughing and talking with the other humans who happened to catch her attention. She smiled a lot. Too much, Darcy thought with a wry smirk.

"Isn't she the most beautiful creature you've ever seen?" Bing asked quietly.

Darcy had to refrain from rolling his eyes. Bing fell in love on almost a daily basis, but Darcy had to admit — he'd never fallen for a human before. If he wasn't certain that Bing would forget about the girl the second they hit the ocean floor, he might have been concerned. But it was no matter. The girl was a human, and though they had awkward limbs instead of tails, merpeople and humans did share some qualities that he supposed Bing could be allowed to find appealing for a flickering moment.

Bing noticed Darcy's silence, however, and broke his stare at the girl. "You don't agree with me, do you?"

"She's a human," Darcy replied. "Do you expect me to find them attractive?"

Bing huffed and started to scan the dock, desperately searching for something Darcy could not see. Finally, he seemed to be satisfied when he tapped Darcy on the shoulder and pointed over to where his human girl was standing. "Look, see that girl standing with her? You have to think she's pretty, don't you?"

Darcy decided to humor his friend, but only for a moment. His eyes narrowed as he looked where Bing had indicated, searching for this supposed "pretty girl."

What he found left him speechless in the most uncomfortable of ways.

There was a third girl with red hair, though hers was a bit darker than that of Bing's interest. Her skin was pale, but even from across the dock, Darcy could see how it only highlighted the brilliance of her eyes. Her smile widened when she began speaking to Bing's interest, and Darcy almost chuckled at the look of disgust that fell upon her fair features when she noticed the moving girl.

She was enchanting.

But a human, of course.

Darcy shook his head, hoping to rid himself of those ridiculous thoughts. He looked over at Bing and almost groaned at the grin that stared back at him. "I told you," Bing said teasingly.

"Told me what?" Darcy asked sharply.

"That she was pretty!"

"She most certainly is not pretty." She was beautiful. "She's … she's decent enough. But she's human, Bing. End of discussion."

Bing sighed and returned to watching the girl. He obviously did not understand the inherent stupidity that came with admiring a human. These people did not care about the merpeople — if they did, it was only to drag them away from their homes so they could torture them with experiments, or to treat them the same way they did the fish they captured.

As … captivating … as the woman might be, she was still human, and that meant that she was just the same as every other awful land-walker on the earth. She was not worth his time. With a scowl, he pushed himself away from the boat and dove back into the water.

His dive was not carefully executed, however, and some water splashed up onto Gigi. She squealed and smacked her hand over her mouth before frowning at him. "William!" she whispered. "Where are you going?"

"Home," he replied, moving back toward Caroline. "And I insist that you come with me."

"But we've only just got here! The party's still going on!"

"Yes, but it won't be for long," he said, raising his eyes to the sky. The mist had slowly been turning into a drizzle, and now he could feel the drops of water hitting his skin much harder and faster than before. "There's a storm coming, Gigi. They'll be heading back soon anyways."

Gigi pouted her lip out, but Darcy was adamant. "Fine," she said, splashing back into the water. After a final glance at the human girl, Bing followed behind.

They were just in time, it seemed, for the second they left the boat, a bolt of lightning struck, leaving rumbling thunder to roll throughout the air. Even from the water, Darcy could hear sudden panic break out on board the ship.

The humans called out to one another, obviously trying to move their decorations to the side in favor of whatever it was that made the boats move back to shore. Good riddance, he thought. They didn't belong on the water anyway.

"Can't we at least stay to see them make it back safely?" Gigi pleaded, grabbing onto Darcy's hand. "What if they're in danger?"

"It's only a storm, Gigi," he answered, beginning to tug her back down into the water. "Humans have survived storms before."

Another lighting strike, this one much closer. They needed to get back underwater, especially with the wind starting to blow harder, blowing waves in every direction. Darcy met Bing and Caroline's eyes before ducking underneath, still holding Gigi's hand and pulling her with him.

"But William-"

"I will not have you risk your safety for the sake of humans."

The group started swimming, Gigi constantly looking over her shoulder every other second. Darcy held her hand tight, though. She wouldn't be swimming back.

"WILLIAM!" she shouted, jerking her hand back, but not loose. "WILLIAM, LOOK!"

He quickly looked her over. "What's the matter? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, but they're not!" Her voice was panicked as she pointed in the direction of the boat.

Darcy's eyes darted in the direction Gigi pointed, and sure enough, there were two humans being tossed around the waves directly ahead. Darcy noted the flaming red hair on each of them — they were two of the women they'd seen before, and judging from the shade of one in particular, they included the enchanting one.

"It doesn't matter," Caroline said, grabbing Gigi's arm and Darcy's attention once more. "They're just humans. We have to get out of here."

Gigi started wiggling in Caroline's grasp. "IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT THEY'RE HUMAN!" she cried, trying to swim away from her. Caroline's grasp was too tight, however.

Darcy looked to Bing, and he could see in his friend's eyes that his decision had already been made. Before he could open his mouth to even ask the question, Bing had taken off, swimming toward the women.

"BING! Don't be an idiot!" Caroline yelled. When it became apparent that he was not going to listen, she looked to Darcy for help.

In that moment, he had a choice to make. In his mind, Darcy knew that he needed to get Gigi back to Pember Sea. The fact that Bing was swimming toward the women meant that if they were conscious enough, they would most certainly see his tail. Who knew what kind of consequences that could bring about, and he needed his sister to be safe if anything should happen.

But, and he hated himself for even considering it … what would happen to the enchanting one? Bing couldn't help both of them. Humans were dead weight in the water, and surely he couldn't drag both of them to shore himself. He knew that Bing would try to help as much as he could, but were he to have to make a choice, Darcy knew which woman Bing would save.

As much as he despised himself for it, Darcy's choice was made. "Caroline," he said quickly, "Get Gigi to Pember Sea. Indoors and out of trouble." Before she could yell at him too, he was off.

Soon enough he caught up to Bing, but he didn't want to talk. He was here for one reason — get the woman to safety and get the hell out. Both of the women had stopped struggling against the current, and their eyes were both shut. He grabbed the enchanting one around her waist and pulled her upwards, making sure she took in some air before they did anything else. The storm was still raging on, and the shore was a decent distance away, but he could save her. He knew he could.

Holding her close, he began swimming, noticing a much smaller boat making its way to shore as well. Did they not stop to think of saving the women at all? He couldn't imagine anyone willingly leaving her behind. And what was she doing in the ocean anyway? Surely she was smart enough to stay away from the water in a storm? Regardless, she was safe now, if unconscious.

Normally, the swim to the land would have taken a much shorter amount of time. But, generally whenever Darcy swam, he had only himself to carry, and he could dash around the ocean in any way he pleased. The woman was heavy in her wet clothes, and he needed to keep her head above water if she was going to survive. Thankfully, the freak storm seemed to be calming down, since the waves were becoming less of an issue, but the clouds were still threatening to remain. He tried not to think about what he was going to do with her once they reached the shore.

Darcy suddenly remembered Bing and looked to his right to see his friend in very much the same situation — holding the woman above water and making his way slowly but surely to their destination. Bing met Darcy's eyes for a moment and said nothing. Instead, he only nodded in acknowledgement, which Darcy returned before returning to the task at hand.

Even though he couldn't tell exactly, Darcy knew he and Bing had been swimming for quite a long time since by the time they reached the shore, the clouds were starting to soften from a harsh black to a softer gray. The air was still chilly, but there was no rain. Darcy wasn't really worried about the weather, though, he thought with a grimace. He was concerned about the fact that merpeople simply couldn't walk on the land. What were they to do with the women now?

He and Bing, still holding tightly to the women, had to begin dragging themselves up on the sand. Really, they just needed to be out of the water, which was good, because getting them any further would be impossible. Panting, Darcy let the woman sink into the sand. He was about to return to the water, but something held him where he sat. He needed to make sure she would be all right, but how could he make her wake up? What if she didn't?

Darcy looked over at Bing and realized that his friend was thinking the same thing. He held the woman's hand in his own and waited, as though she were something precious to him.

This was absolutely ridiculous, Darcy couldn't help but think. Neither one of them had any connection to these women. They were humans - sworn enemies to the merpeople. They had no right to have any sort of affection toward them, and yet, Darcy couldn't just leave her. It felt wrong to even consider it.

Since he knew he wouldn't be leaving, Darcy allowed himself a chance to look at the woman's face up close. She was just as beautiful, if not moreso. Her hair was drenched, whatever it was that humans painted their faces with was running down her cheeks, and her fingers were pruny from being in the water so long.

He hadn't noticed he'd been holding her hand. He quickly remedied that, thinking it would be frightening to wake up to a stranger holding your hand.

Why wouldn't she wake up? Bing and he would have to leave eventually ... Was no one out there looking for these women?

She was breathing, so obviously she was alive. But her eyes were still closed, as though she were in a deep sleep.

"Please wake up," he whispered, not even realizing the words were leaving his mouth.

As though she heard him, the woman took in a deep breath, shocking Darcy into moving back an inch or so. Should he leave now before she opened her eyes? If she saw him … saw his tail … what would she do?

But he still couldn't leave.

Slowly, her eyes flickered open. Dazed, she could barely lift her head. Her beautiful eyes squinted, raw from the salt water.

And then, she looked at him. Her eyes narrowed, and her head tilted to the side, and she opened her mouth as though to speak. No words came out, so she shut it once more.

Darcy didn't know what to do. He couldn't exactly introduce himself. "My name is William Darcy, and I'm the merman who watched you partake in celebrations with your family and friends. Also, I just saved your life. Nice to meet you."

Instead, he whispered the first thing that came to his mind. "Hi."

She smiled. "Hi," she whispered back, her voice raspy.

His chest felt strangely warm, and something leapt in his stomach that he wasn't sure existed until this moment. He smiled back.

"Meow."

Darcy frowned. That hadn't been her … had it?

He looked up and saw a creature sitting before them, its tail slowly whipping back and forth as it watched him carefully. More were coming, Darcy thought. This must be the first of their search party. He started edging away slowly, his eyes moving back to the woman. She watched him go without a word, her eyebrows beginning to furrow in confusion. He had to leave before she saw his tail.

He could hear voices coming from farther up on the shore, and he knew his time was running out. Thankfully, the woman lifted her head to look behind her, which gave Darcy enough time to call out to Bing before diving back into the water.

—

"LIZZIE! JANE!"

Lizzie blinked. Where had he gone?

She felt something warm and soft rub against her neck, and she sighed, letting her head fall back onto the sand. "Hey, Kitty," she whispered, her throat sore. Lizzie was vaguely aware of how her body was drenched in water, but she was too exhausted to care.

Suddenly, she remembered why she'd been in the water in the first place. Reaching out her arms, she started grasping at the sand, hoping to find her sister. "Jane?"

"Right here."

Lizzie looked to her left to see Jane slowly starting to pull herself into a sitting position. They heard footsteps thudding on the sand behind them, Lydia suddenly falling into view.

"WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE DOING, SCARING ME LIKE THAT?" she yelled.

Lizzie winced. "Please don't shout," she begged.

She felt two hands hook underneath her armpits, pulling upwards. "C'mon, bestie. We have to get you inside."

Lizzie just nodded, her eyes drifting over to the ocean. She remembered Jane falling off of the boat. She'd been trying to get Lydia away from the edge of the water. Lydia had been saying something about seeing someone out there, but they all knew that was crazy, since no one had fallen in. Lizzie had warned her to stay away from the edge, but did Lydia ever listen? No.

So Jane, sweet Jane, had to be the one to push Lydia away from the edge just as the ship started to rock with the waves, getting herself thrown overboard instead. Lizzie hadn't thought. She'd just acted, diving in after her.

After that, her memories were missing. She must have blacked out when a wave hit her head from behind, because the next thing she knew, she was waking up on the beach. And then there had been that man.

"Char?" she rasped.

"Shh. Save your voice. You're water logged. Let's just get you inside, okay?" Charlotte let Lizzie lean onto her as they walked, Jane leaning on Lydia just behind them.

"But Char," Lizzie continued stubbornly. "Did you see anyone around us?"

"What do you mean?"

"There was a man when I woke up."

Charlotte chuckled. "A man, huh? Is that how you showed up here? Your knight in shining armor coming to rescue you? How romantic."

Lizzie tiredly rolled her eyes. "There was a man, Char."

"Well, what did he look like?"

What had he looked like? Lizzie's mind felt fuzzy. "Dark hair. Blue eyes, I think … He said 'hi.'"

"'Hi?'"

"Just that," she said, nodding her head once. "And then … and then he smiled at me."

Charlotte forced her to stay quiet after that, but even as she was brought in to the doctor, bathed, and put to bed, her mind couldn't help drifting back to that man. The man who Charlotte swore had not been on the beach. The man with the most beautiful smile she'd ever seen.


	4. Poor Unfortunate Souls

_—_

**_poor unfortunate souls_**

_in pain, in need_

_this one longing to be thinner_

_that one wants to get the girl_

_and do I help them?_

_yes, indeed_

—

Two weeks passed, and Darcy still refused to talk about what had happened on the surface that day.

The moment he and Bing had returned to Pember Sea, Gigi had accosted him with questions. Were the women safe? Alive? Back with their families? Why had it taken the two of them so long to get back home? Did they talk to the women? What were they like?

"Enough," Darcy had finally said. "The women are alive and back on the shore. Now leave it alone, Gigi."

The only problem with that plan, however, was that Gigi Darcy would never leave _anything_ alone. Both her brother and Bing were acting differently since they had rescued those women, and she wanted to know why.

Bing had always been a pleasant merman to be around, but he seemed to float through the water rather than swim these days. The smile that had been etched on his face since birth was even brighter than before, and he spent the day humming to himself much to Caroline's annoyance.

Her brother, on the other hand, had been even rougher than usual. She only saw him during meals and their daily duties as the prince and princess, and even then he rarely wanted to talk. He had never been much for talking, but this time she knew he was avoiding her questions.

Something had definitely happened on the shore, and she wanted answers. So when she was able to find the one person she knew would never lie to her alone, she attacked.

"Caroline, what happened that day?"

"I can't imagine why you think I would know," Caroline replied, uninterested in the conversation. She continued brushing her hair and relaxed further into the shell near Gigi's vanity.

Gigi frowned. "Bing's your brother! Wouldn't he have told you?"

"Your brother hasn't told you. Why would mine act differently?"

"Because he _is_ acting differently," Gigi said, throwing her arms out in frustration. "Your brother has been swimming with his head in the bubbles for days now, and William refuses to even talk to me."

Caroline shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, Gigi. At this point, I feel as though only Catherine could pull the truth out of the boys. Have you asked her to ask them?"

"NO!" Gigi exclaimed, swimming over to Caroline and holding out her arms. "Are you crazy? Catherine doesn't even know that we were at the surface! She would go insane if she knew."

"Okay, okay," Caroline said, raising an eyebrow at the outburst. She rose from the shell and placed her hands on her hips. "I won't tell Catherine, but I don't see how you're going to get any answers otherwise."

Gigi frowned. She would figure out what it was her brother was hiding, if it was the last thing she ever did.

—

Darcy knew it was rude to avoid his sister when she so clearly wanted to talk to him. Her constant pestering over what had occurred when he and Bing had been on the shore had lasted long enough, however, and if she was to continue asking, then he would continue to be silent.

At least, that was what he had planned.

His aunt unknowingly thwarted most of his attempts at avoidance after she decided he and Gigi needed to spend more time amongst their subjects together.

"As the Prince and Princess of Pember Sea," she had said very sternly, stroking the blob that was Anniekins in her hands. "You both must be aware of the people you will rule one day. Go to them and show that you care to know how they feel as citizens of our great city."

In all honesty, Darcy knew that this was a good idea. He and Gigi had grown up in the castle, away from the merpeople that lived in Pember Sea; and while he believed that the two of them had been trained to understand how to rule a kingdom well enough, training was no substitute for truly knowing who you are responsible for.

The issue lied in the fact that now he and Gigi were required to spend an entire day together, unaccompanied by Catherine. Despite the fact that they were to be focusing their attentions on the people in the city, if Darcy knew his sister, that would not be the case for long.

"You know, if you hadn't ignored me for the last three weeks, I probably wouldn't be bothering you now," she said, her hands behind her back as they swam.

The day had gone by well despite her constant questioning. Darcy had managed to avoid answering anything incriminating. The last thing he wanted to do was think about that woman again.

"There's nothing to say, Gigi," he said, nodding to a passing merman and his child. "Bing and I helped those women to safety, and now we've returned."

Gigi groaned loudly and slouched over in a rather childlike fashion. Darcy was glad there were no members of the court around to see her act in such a manner.

Her outburst aside, the swim back to Pember Sea castle was relatively uneventful. They had met with several families throughout the city that day, and Darcy had been pleased to learn that most of their subjects were quite happy with the way things were running. Any small disgruntlements were noted and marked to be addressed within the week.

At the entrance to the castle, Collins scurried around, his claws flinging out from side to side as he muttered to himself. Darcy and Gigi shared a look of confusion before swimming closer. "Is there something we can do for you, Mr. Collins?" he asked.

The crab jumped up in shock, then a wide smile appeared on his face. "Oh, of course not, Mr. Darcy! But how fortunate to run into you and your beautiful sister on this pleasant day! I was merely waiting here to see if I might alert you both that your aunt would like to meet with you to discuss the benefits of your journey to the great Pember City today!"

"Would she like us to go to the throne room, then?"

"Oh no, Mr. Darcy! Your aunt was last seen in the hallway outside her working quarters. She shall be out quite soon. And I must be off, I'm sorry to say. Plenty of business to take care of around this delightful castle!"

Gigi smiled pitifully at the crab as he scurried away, and Darcy refrained from commenting on the creature's inability to speak in sentences with less than ten syllables. He began to swim inside when Gigi grabbed his wrist.

"William," she said firmly. "We need to talk."

He pulled away and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Gigi, what more do you want me to say? I've already told you everything there is to know."

She crossed her arms and shook her head, furrowing her forehead. "Don't lie to me, William. You never avoid me, no matter how irritating I act. But you haven't talked to me for almost a month, and I'm starting to get worried."

"You don't need to be worried," he said hurriedly. "It's nothing."

"Which means it's something."

"What is something?"

Gigi gasped quietly, and Darcy closed his eyes for a moment before turning around slowly. "How wonderful the people of Pember Sea seem to be getting along these days, Aunt Catherine. We were both astounded at how well the kingdom is doing after our swim through the city today."

Catherine narrowed her eyes and pulled Anniekins close to her chest. "I'm pleased you found your visit to Pember Sea enlightening."

"Illuminating, even!" Gigi said quickly, a little too loudly. She raised her hand to her mouth and looked at her brother apologetically.

Subtle, Gigi was not, Darcy thought with a grimace.

"Yes," Catherine replied slowly. The frown that perpetually remained on her face deepened as she moved closer to the siblings. "Though I hope you two don't think I am stupid. Georgiana was asking you a question which you refused to answer, William. You have been ignoring your sister?"

Darcy's fingers clenched involuntarily. He knew that Gigi would want to keep any knowledge of their trip to the surface from their aunt, so the look of fear in her eyes was of no surprise.

"I'm waiting," Catherine said, raising her eyebrow. "Georgiana is not the only one to have noticed a change in your behavior, William. I'd like to know what exactly is going on."

Before Darcy could come up with an excuse, he saw Bing and Caroline swim up behind Catherine. Caroline smiled and nodded at him, but upon seeing Catherine's rigid posture, she knew to continue swimming without a word. Unfortunately, her brother did not have the same instinct for social cues.

"Afternoon, Ms. de Bourgh!" he greeted cheerfully with a wave. He swam up beside her and even gave a small finger wave to Anniekins before looking over at Gigi. "Are you okay?" he asked with some concern. "You don't look so great."

"Before you interrupted, Mr. Lee," Catherine said with her eyes trained fully on Darcy. "We were just about to hear my nephew's reason for being so quiet and solitary this past month."

Bing laughed, and in that moment, Darcy knew they were done for.

"He's probably still nervous about that girl he can't stop thinking about."

"Bing," Darcy warned, his stern look not having any effect.

Caroline swam up behind her brother, placing a hand on his shoulder and attempting to whisper in his ear, but he didn't seem to be listening.

"A girl?" Catherine asked, visibly relaxing. "Am I to believe you have finally met a young woman to take the throne beside you, William?"

Gigi squealed to herself suddenly, and Darcy had to close his eyes. "It's a _girl_?" she asked wildy, grabbing onto his arm. "Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

"Probably because he's just embarrassed," Bing answered, still chuckling at Darcy's obvious discomfort. "He doesn't want to own up to the fact that he was wrong about humans."

The moment the word left Bing's lips, time seemed to freeze over. Darcy lost the feeling in his fingertips for a moment, and he couldn't even bring himself to glare at his friend. Gigi's grip tightened on his arm, and he felt her nails dig into his skin.

"Humans?" Catherine asked, her voice unnervingly calm. "I don't understand what you mean, Mr. Lee. That would imply that my nephew had fallen in love with a human, which would be impossible, for humans are not to know about our kind."

Bing's eyes widened, and he cleared his throat before attempting to backtrack. "Of course not, your majesty. I only meant ... I meant to say ..."

"William Darcy," Catherine interrupted, swimming directly up to her nephew and looking him in the eye. "Did you or did you not go to the surface?"

He looked over at Gigi, who had released his arm and floated off to the side, her arms wrapping around her stomach as though she felt sick. He returned his aunt's gaze and sighed before straightening his back. "I did."

The fire he saw in his aunt's eyes was one he had only seen reserved for the chamber room during court. "And," she continued, her volume starting to rise. "Would you mind explaining to me exactly why you were up there?"

He remained silent for a moment, considering what to say. He had no desire to bring trouble to Gigi, but he had never lied to his aunt before. It would be irresponsible for the prince to lie to the queen, and he had told Gigi fervently that they were not to be at the surface in the first place. If she was not going to listen to him, he thought, then she might at least listen to Catherine.

"I followed Gigi to make sure she was safe."

Gigi's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She looked away from him, as though he had stung her.

Catherine whipped around to face the girl. "Georgiana Darcy, you deliberately disobeyed orders and swam to the surface, putting your brother and I assume your friends Mr. and Ms. Lee in danger? Do you not understand what happened to your parents when they decided to visit the surface?"

Gigi looked at the ground. "I do."

"Apparently you need reminding!" Catherine spat. "In case the air has fogged your memory, your parents were killed while the humans hunted the fish in our sea for sport. They lost their lives, and you decided to ignore the risk and put your brother and yourself in danger? Do you not care if you or your brother live or die?"

"Of course I do!" Gigi shouted back, her lower lip trembling and voice wavering.

Darcy felt his stomach sink. "Aunt Catherine -"

"No! I will hear no excuses! Georgiana, you are never to go to the surface again! You are not to leave the castle grounds. In fact, I shall not see you leave the castle walls until you can prove that you are intelligent enough not to put other people's lives in danger again!"

Gigi blinked rapidly, her chest heaving as she tried to hold herself together. She looked at Darcy once before swimming off into the castle.

Darcy began swimming after her, but before he could get too far, Caroline grabbed his hand and pulled back. "You know she won't want to talk to you," she said calmly. "Why don't Bing and I go?"

He watched as Gigi's tail disappeared around a corner and sighed. He hadn't meant for Catherine to blow up in her face, or even to make her cry. He nodded and watched as his friends disappeared into the castle as well.

—

Gigi swam around every corner she came across, occasionally running into a dead end as the salt from her tears clouded her sight. She could hear the water swishing about behind her, and she knew that William was following her, but she had no intention of even looking at him right now.

Before long, she reached her bedroom and slammed the door closed behind her, leaning her back against the wall as she finally allowed herself to break down crying and sink to the floor. She wrapped her arms around her fin and let her chin fall to her chest as the tears poured out, warming the water around her face.

Never had she meant for anyone to get hurt while going to the surface. She had been on sea with Fitz several times, and with William, she knew everything would be all right.

Of course, Aunt Catherine would never understand that, she thought with a huff. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart that beat wildly in her chest.

She heard a faint knock at her door and scowled. "Go away, William," she said bitterly.

"It's Caroline," a soft voice answered.

"And Bing." Gigi could hear the hesitance as he spoke. "Gigi ... I'm really, really sorry about what happened back there. I wasn't thinking."

"It's fine," Gigi said quickly, crossing her arms and leaning up against the door. "I don't want to talk to anyone."

It was quiet for almost a minute, and Gigi had started to think the two had left her door already when Caroline said, "You know your brother didn't mean for that to happen."

Gigi scoffed and rose, pacing in front of the door. "Of course he meant for that to happen," she answered. "He's been upset with me for bugging him about what happened on the shore, which he still hasn't explicitly told me about, and he wanted me to learn my lesson."

"Gigi-"

"But fine! If he doesn't want to talk to his only sister about his problems, then that's his issue! He's just a soulless little prince who refuses to let anyone in whenever he feels even the slightest bit of emotion!"

"Gigi!"

"Don't interrupt me, Bing! And besides him, Aunt Catherine's already mad at me for endangering her poor little William anyways. You heard how upset she got when she heard _I_ took him to the surface. Which I didn't! He didn't have to follow me! None of you had to follow me!"'

"You're right," Caroline said finally. "We didn't have to follow you. But we did because we care about you. We all care about you. Your brother and your aunt included."

Gigi rolled her eyes and felt the sting of tears threatening to make a second appearance, but she blinked them back. "They love me so much that I can't leave the castle walls until Aunt Catherine stops thinking that I'm an idiot."

"That's not what she said."

"It's what she meant," Gigi said, her voice falling into a whisper. The truth of the matter was, she knew that she hadn't been thinking that day. She had just known nothing would happen to either of them, and nothing _had_ happened. She was smart enough to know how to avoid a dangerous situation above water if they would just trust her.

They never would, though, she realized with a pang in her chest. To Catherine and William, she was still the young naive princess who needed to be caged in for her own good.

Caroline and Bing continued to console her through the closed door, but she tuned them out and swam to her window, staring out at the kingdom, then up at the sun as its light hit the ocean ceiling. She wondered when she'd be able to feel the warmth of the sun on her skin again. In the ocean, the water was simply water. Breaking into the open air felt warm and alive in a way Gigi had never felt below the waves. The idea of never feeling the breeze move through her hair again was almost too much to bear.

"Gigi, you can't stay in there forever," Caroline said finally, bringing Gigi back to the present.

She turned to look at her closed door, thinking about what lay behind it. Past Caroline and Bing, her life in confinement waited for her. How long would it be before she could even see the citizens of Pember Sea again?

Then, she had a thought.

A crazy thought. A thought so incredibly out of her mind that ... it could work.

"You're right," she said, the edges of her lips twitching into a smile. "I can't."

She looked out the window at the castle grounds and made sure there were no guards around, then she swam out without another word.

Where she planned to go, she didn't know, but the moment she was out the window and past the gates of Pember Sea, her heart suddenly felt light again. Gigi knew she couldn't stop to celebrate, however. It wouldn't be long before Caroline would decide to open her bedroom door, and the moment she did, William would be after her for sure.

So she continued swimming, past the homes of the merpeople she and William had visited just a little while before, and out into the open water. When she was younger, she and William would travel out to the coral reefs to swim amongst the fish who didn't reside in Pember Sea, as there were plenty.

Once she passed a small family of seahorses, she looked over her shoulder and realized she could barely see the castle from this distance. This was the farthest she had ever been from Pember Sea alone, and the sudden realization hit her in the gut. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and took a few deep breaths.

This was what she wanted. She wanted to be out and away from anyone would would try to keep her locked indoors. She would be free. Even if that meant being alone.

But she wouldn't be alone for long.

"Gigi? Is that you?"

Gigi gasped and whipped around, her eyes darting every which way. As far as she could tell, there were only rocks and more rocks surrounding her, but she couldn't see anyone. "Wh-who's there?" she asked shakily.

"C'mon, Peach," the voice answered. "Don't tell me you don't remember me."

Out of the corner of her eye, movement from behind a particularly tall rockpile caught her attention. One, two, three, and then several more dark tentacles oozed around the rock until the black faded into tan. Finally, she saw a familiar face she hadn't seen in years.

"George!" she called out excitedly, swimming toward him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "It's so good to see you!"

George chuckled and returned the hug, holding her close. His arms felt almost like her brother's, and the familiarity both warmed and stung her heart.

"What're you doing all the way out here, Peach?" he asked finally, pulling back. "You're a bit far from home, aren't you?"

Gigi blushed and looked behind her in the direction of the castle. There was only sand for as far as she could see now. "Yeah, I suppose I am," she said.

"Want me to take you back?"

"No!" she shouted, jumping out of George's arms. "No, I'm not going back."

George raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "You, perfect little Gigi Darcy, ran away from home?"

Gigi bit her lip and clasped her hands together behind her back. "I'm not perfect."

With a laugh, George moved closer and poked Gigi's arm playfully with a tentacle. "Are too," he answered. "You never did anything your brother didn't want you to do. Anytime I wanted to come out here to play as kids, you were always too scared."

At his taunting, Gigi shrank back, and tears started to sting her eyes again.

George seemed to take notice, and his grin softened. "Aw, c'mon, don't cry. I didn't want to make you upset." He placed an arm around her shoulders and held her close as she tried to contain her tears.

"I went to the surface," Gigi confessed suddenly, causing George to pull back in shock for a moment. "William followed me, and Aunt Catherine found out. She said I wasn't allowed to leave the castle until I could prove I was smart enough to handle myself. And that's never going to happen in her eyes or William's, so I left."

Sighing, George pushed a lock of Gigi's hair behind her ear. He placed two fingers beneath her chin and lifted it slowly so he could look in her eyes. "I'm sorry that happened, Gigi, but do you have any idea where you're going to go now?"

Gigi frowned. "I - Not really. I just needed to get out of there, so I swam as far as I could, and now I'm here."

George nodded. He looked around them for a moment before taking Gigi's hand. "I live right around here," he said, motioning his head off to the side. "Until you get your bearings together, why don't you come stay with me?"

Gigi sighed with relief. She honestly hadn't a clue where she would go when she'd left the castle, and knowing that she could stay with someone like George was a weight off her shoulders. She nodded with a smile, then swam behind him as he led her to a cave behind the rock pile he'd appeared by.

It had been a long time since she and William had seen George. He wasn't a merman, of course, but he and his father used to reside in Pember Sea, just outside the castle. His father had been a guard of the palace. An unfortunate shark attack had taken his father, but George had always remained as a constant companion to Gigi and her brother.

Of course, as they got older, it became harder and harder to visit George outside the palace. Their duties as royals increased, and soon they stopped seeing him altogether. It was a shame, Gigi knew, because the three of them had been good friends as children.

"Welcome home," George said, opening his arms wide. The cave was dark, that much Gigi could say. It was cold and smelled a little bit like water that had gone stale, but she knew there was no need to say anything of that sort. George was being hospitable and rather kind to open up his home to her.

She smiled at him and swam around a bit, looking to explore the place she would be staying in for the time being. He showed her where she could sleep and where he liked to exercise. There was one thing, however, that caught Gigi's eye above everything else.

Off to the side of the cave, a black cauldron held some bubbling purple goo. "Are you making dinner?" Gigi joked, swimming forward.

"No, of course not," George laughed. "Does that look appetizing to you?"

"Not particularly." Gigi scrunched up her nose as one large bubble popped open and hissed with purple steam. "But if it's not food, what are you making?"

George scratched his head, as though debating whether or not to tell her something. "Well ... I've been practicing."

"Practicing what?"

"Potion making."

Gigi's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. "_Potion_ making? You're practicing _magic_?"

George nodded sheepishly.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Well," he said slowly, moving closer and peering into the cauldron. "I've actually been trying to figure out a potion to change myself."

"Into what?"

"A human."

Gigi gasped and clutched his arm tightly. "Do not joke with me about this, George Wickham."

"I'm not!" he said, laughing at her enthusiasm. "Ever since you and your brother had to be all 'royal', I've been kind of by myself out here. I figured it was time for a change of pace."

"So ... you're going to live on the land? Become a human?"

George nodded and smiled to himself. "I've got the potion all finished, actually. I'm just working on a way to figure out where to go once I'm up there."

"Oh, you should talk to Fitz," Gigi said, releasing his arm. "I've been to the surface to see him plenty of times, and he lives on the shore. He could show you where to live."

"Is Fitz a good friend of yours?"

"Of course!"

George brought his hand to his chin and thought for a moment. "You know, Gigi," he said slowly. "This could be sort of crazy ... but if you already know someone up there who could help ... maybe you should go ahead of me."

She couldn't believe her ears. "What?"

George held out his hands. "Hear me out. You ran away because you wanted to go to the surface, right?"

Gigi nodded.

"Okay, well, I have a way to turn the both of us human. Why not come with me?"

"But -" Gigi looked to the opening of the cave and thought of her brother. "If I go with you, I'll never see William again. Or Caroline and Bing and Aunt Catherine ..."

"Weren't they the ones who wanted to lock you up in the castle?"

He was right. Gigi knew he was right. It wasn't as though she had any other plans, and with this one, at least she would be where she knew she was always meant to be. "So what is the plan?"

"I'm thinking that we turn you human now, and you go meet Fitz to find a place for us to live. I'll finish up some business down here, then meet you in three days."

She nodded and took a breath. This was a lot to take in so suddenly, but she trusted George. If she was going to go to the surface with anyone, she was glad it would be him. "Okay," she said quietly.

George grinned. "You'll do it? You'll come with me?"

She nodded, and the thought that her fin would soon be legs suddenly hit her. She laughed and nodded again, more enthusiastically. "What do we do?"

George reached up on a shelf and pulled down a vile with some red goo inside. He scooped some of the purple from his cauldron into the vile and mixed it with the red, then shook it up for a moment. Carefully swirling the mixture around for a moment, he watched as the colors morphed into one another. Finally, he seemed satisfied, because he held out the potion to Gigi with a smile. "You gotta drink this."

She took the vile and looked into the new potion. "What was the red?" she asked curiously.

He shrugged. "Flavoring. I figure the potion would be nasty without it."

She nodded. Raising the vile to her lips, she looked at his grin once and knew she was making the right decision. She drank it all in one swallow.

—

Darcy had spent the next hour after his sister had run off worrying himself silly over what he was going to do. He truly hadn't meant for Aunt Catherine to yell at her like that, and in all honesty, Gigi had handled herself rather well on the surface. Of course, she had jumped onto a human's ship and sat within a yard of them, but she hadn't been caught.

He paced around until finally he gave up, sinking to the floor and leaning against the wall. He rested his head in his hands and sighed. Gigi might be young, but she was still old enough to make her own decisions. And yet, he still had nightmares about the day he learned about their parents' deaths.

Should he force that fear onto his sister, or let her live with the freedom she deserved?

"DARCY!" Bing came swimming around the corner so fast he practically ran into the wall. Normally Darcy would have taken this for actual excitement, but the look on Bing's face said otherwise. "Gigi's gone!"

Darcy pushed up off the floor and grabbed Bing's shoulders. "What do you mean gone?"

"I mean she's not in her room! Caroline opened the door after she stopped talking to us, and she's not there!"

"Well where could she be?"

"Not sure," Caroline said, coming from down the hall. "She must've left out the window. Maybe someone in Pember Sea saw where she went."

Darcy nodded and immediately swam toward the castle entrance and out into the kingdom. This was all his fault. If he had just figured out something other than pushing Gigi right into his Aunt's anger, she woudln't have gotten the idea to run away into her head in the first place.

Gigi had never gone far from Pember Sea, so either she was staying in the kingdom, or she was incredibly lost. Darcy swam from home to home, asking ever merman and mermaid he could find whether they had seen the princess. Thankfully one of the mermaids who lived in a corner home had seen Gigi pass by not too long before, and she pointed William in the direction she had been swimming. He thanked the mermaid profusely before swimming off.

Caroline and Bing had been following him, but he didn't have time to let them know where he was going. All he knew was that this was far beyond the limits he had set for Gigi when she was a child, so she likely had no idea where she was. If he could find her and bring her home immediately, everything would return to normal. He needed to act fast.

Eventually he came to a field of rockpiles, and Gigi was still nowhere to be found. He did notice, however, that there were strange paths being formed in the sand. Indentations to show that some creature had been sitting on the seafloor, and they seemed to move behind a particular pile. When Bing and Caroline caught up to him, he motioned toward the markings. "This could easily be nothing, but I've got to try."

The siblings nodded and followed after him. It didn't take long before the trail disappeared. Whatever creature had left it obviously could swim above the floor, but when Darcy lifted his eyes, he found a cave entrance that he knew he would have to enter.

"Bing, Caroline," he said, turning to face them. "I have to go in alone."

"Darcy, don't be stupid," Caroline said, crossing her arms. "You don't even know if Gigi's in there."

"No, I don't. But I have to try. And if something else is in there, it will do no good for you two to follow after to me now. Just ... wait here, and if I don't come out soon, you'll know I need assistance."

Caroline looked as though she wanted to argue, but after one look from Bing, she kept silent. There was no point in stopping Darcy once he set his mind to something. They both knew that better than anyone.

Swimming up to the cave entrance, Darcy peered inside but could only see a faint light and one voice that did not seem to be Gigi's. He swam further in, figuring that even if it wasn't Gigi, there was a chance the creature who lived here might know where she had gone. Or there was a chance that this creature had eaten Gigi and would do the same to him.

He preferred not to think about that outcome.

The further he traveled, the louder the voice from within the cave grew, and before long, he thought he started to recognize it.

"George?" he asked upon reaching the main room.

To his surprise, his ears had been correct.

"George Wickham," he said again, his voice more firm that it had been.

George heard him and spun around, grinning his smile that was charming as ever. "Darcy!" he called, swimming up and patting him on the back. "I was wondering when I'd be seeing you!"

Darcy frowned in confusion. "I'm not sure why. I'm here looking for my sister."

"That's what I figured," George replied, confusing Darcy even further. "Come on in, the water's fine, I promise."

George swam back to the middle of the room, opening his arm for Darcy to join him. He followed reluctantly. "Why would you know that I'm looking for Gigi?"

"Cause she's here, of course."

Darcy's eyes widened, and he swam quickly over. "Where is she?"

"Over there." George motioned to a shelf on the wall as he popped a snack in his mouth.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Darcy swam closer to the wall and peered up onto the shelf. He wasn't sure what George was talking about, as he did not see his sister anywhere around. After a moment, however, his heart sank when he realized what he was looking at.

In the corner of the shelf, what looked like a shriveled brown polyp opened two familiar eyes and stared sadly back at him.

"What have you done to her?" Darcy asked, his blood boiling and fists clenching.

George swam up beside him, and Darcy jerked away. "Nothing permanent. I just didn't want her running away while we waited for you."

"I'm here now. Let her go."

George chuckled and shook his head. "You don't get it, do you? I want both of you here! I just knew that if I kept Gigi here, you'd be the big brother who races to come save the day."

Darcy lunged for him, but George was too quick and swam to the side, letting Darcy ram into the wall and sink to the floor. "What do you want with us?"

George held out his hands in defense. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you guys. But I've been alone out here for ages, and I'm ready for a change of location."

"Then let her go and _leave_."

"That's just it," George continued, moving close to Gigi and reaching out a finger to stroke her side. She flinched, and Darcy shot forward to knock George aside, but one of his tentacles grabbed Darcy and flung him to the wall again. "I don't want to live by myself anymore. You two were my only family for a long time, but then you just ... left me."

"We had responsibilities."

"You had a responsibility to be my _friend_!" George shouted, his face filling with an anger Darcy hadn't seen before. "You two left me with no one. I've been by myself for years, and I'm tired of it."

"You're an adult, George. You couldn't make friends?"

"Merpeople don't make friends with those of us with tentacles, idiot."

"That is no excuse, George," Darcy spat, rising again. He scowled and looked to Gigi's shriveled form on the shelf. Though she was no longer a mermaid, her eyes were still the same, and the fear that resided within them struck a pain in his chest. "What will it take to get you to release her?"

"Nothing!" George answered. "You two are going to come with me, and we're going to live like we used to. Like a family. Why is this such a difficult concept for you to grasp?"

"Does she look happy, George?" Darcy shouted.

"She was plenty happy to join me before you showed up. She couldn't wait to get away from you, in fact."

Darcy shrank back. Gigi had run away from him. She'd wanted to leave with George? But surely she couldn't have known what he was truly planning. The look in her eyes was enough to know that she would take her actions back if she could.

"Look, Darcy, you're better off coming with us. I know you. You're just ... You're you. You drove your own sister away, and I managed to convince her to runaway with me in no time at all. You could never get someone to care about you like that."

"You think Gigi cares about you now?" Darcy asked with a dark laugh.

George shrugged. "Not sure that it matters. She's not going anywhere."

"George Wickham, tell me what I need to do to get you to set her free."

With a groan, George slouched and rolled his eyes. "You're such a buzzkill, Darcy. Don't you see that she wanted this? She wanted to run away with me. She's got a runaway spirit. And I can't free her because of it."

Darcy froze. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, she drank both a potion to make her human and a mix of my own that keeps her like this. It feeds off that desire, bro. If you come with me, your decision to runaway will make her human, okay? The three of us will live happily ever after where no one will ever bother us again."

Darcy couldn't believe his ears. "I don't want to run away, George. I'm content with my life. It won't work."

"Then I guess she's staying like this. Nothing I can do about it."

"What if I were to find someone who does want to runaway?"

"What, get someone to runaway with you? Everyone in Pember Sea's happy. They're not leaving, I've tried. Let's face it, Darcy. You can't convince someone to runaway with you."

"Try me."

George raised an eyebrow. "You're serious about this?"

"Deadly."

George chuckled. "Just as stiff as I remember." He looked out the cave, then back at Gigi, and the smirk he got on his face was enough to send chills up Darcy's spine. "Okay, Darcy. I have an idea. You need a runaway spirit, and the only one strong enough to break Gigi's curse is going to have to want a serious change, just like she wanted."

"Your point?"

"I mean, Gigi wanted to runaway to become human when she drank that potion. So, you'll need someone to match that spirit."

Darcy tilted his head ever so slightly, still confused as to what George meant.

"You'll have to find a human who wants to become a mermaid."

"That's preposterous."

"It's the only way, dude," George answered, crossing his arms. "I can turn you human, and you can go find some chick up there to runaway with you for all I care. If you can do that in ... let's say three days. If you can do that in three days, Gigi won't be a worm thing, and you both can leave."

George held out his hand, and Darcy looked at it apprehensively. "This is the only way to save her?" he asked quietly.

"Hey, if you're not interested -"

"I didn't say that!" Darcy said quickly, grabbing George's hand.

He gave it a firm shake and sighed. George went to mix together a potion, and Darcy sneaked a glance at Gigi. She was trembling, and he wasn't sure if she was thankful or afraid. Either way, there was no point in turning back now.

George held out a purple sludge in a container, and Darcy took it and brought it to his lips. Before he drank, he pulled back. "How do I know you won't turn me into a polyp as well?"

George sighed and rolled his eyes. "You don't."

Darcy scowled. "And what's the catch here?"

"I'm sorry?"

"The catch. You can't want this to be easy for me. What're you going to do? Give me dog legs instead of human? Take away my voice so I can't talk?"

George laughed. "So distrustful, Darce. Normally I would do just that ... but honestly, I think your bubbling personality will be a 'catch' enough for you."

He would have argued further, but Darcy knew he needed all the time he could get up to the surface, so instead he just let the slime ooze down his throat.

The moment it hit his stomach, he felt a sudden burning sensation on his tail. It traveled up to his torso, and he had to close his eyes at the sensation. The burning hit him right in the chest, and he suddenly felt it become harder and harder to breathe. He opened his eyes and saw George, still smirking, but he couldn't open his mouth to say anything.

"Oh, I forgot one thing, Darce," George said as he crossed his arms. "Humans can't breathe under water. Good luck."

Darcy looked to the ground and almost gasped to see that his fin had split, and at the ends were now two strange looking ... feet? He had feet!

He kicked his legs out once, trying to swim out the cave, but found that two legs could not swim quite like one fin could. The burning in his chest started to flare up again, and he knew that if he did not find air, he would drown before the three days had even begun.

Kicking and flailing, he slowly made his way out of the cave to find Bing and Caroline about to enter it, possibly to save him. The moment Caroline laid eyes on Darcy's new legs, she gasped. "You idiot!" she yelled, grabbing his arms and pulling upwards. "Bing, grab his other arm and pull!"

Darcy's head felt light, and he didn't have the energy to kick his new legs anymore. Bing and Caroline dragged him upwards, and he stared at the sun that shone on the water above, ignoring the feeling of dread in his gut that he had just made a very grave mistake.


End file.
